My poor little Lancelot is in the hospital tonight. We're not sure what's going on with him. I'm so tired, overwrought and worried that I just can't even bring myself to go into details. Please, please, please say a prayer for my little guy.

I'm not ready to lose him. I can't believe we're doing this again, less than a year after we lost Pippin. My poor, poor little boy.

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When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight. - Kahlil Gibran

Hi, Kel, please permit me to offer you my sincerest support and comfort in your and your precious Lancelot's medical crisis. I do so understand your fears and concerns and prayers. Please know I am here for you and am standing by to share with you what is happening with your precious boy.

Peace and blessings,moon_beam

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In heaven's perfect garden there is no grief or pain, and all of God's creation join the angels' sweet refrain.

The most blessed way I have of knowing God's comforting love and grace is to look into the eyes and heart of God's creatures' sweet angelic face.

My poor little Lancelot is in the hospital tonight. We're not sure what's going on with him. I'm so tired, overwrought and worried that I just can't even bring myself to go into details. Please, please, please say a prayer for my little guy.

I'm not ready to lose him. I can't believe we're doing this again, less than a year after we lost Pippin. My poor, poor little boy.

Kel, I am so sorry to hear that your sweet Lancelot is in the hospital. I've said a prayer for him as well as you. I know this has got to be so tough right now. Let us hope that your little kitty boy will recover. I know you're not ready to lose him, especially not so soon after Pippin. Please let us know how he is doing. My heart goes out to you.

I'll try to write more details tomorrow, but Lance is home, safe and sound. We think he had a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic... it was terrifying. Off to bed now, but so glad to have my Lance here for snuggles again.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers for little Lancelot!

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When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight. - Kahlil Gibran

Hi, Kel, thank you so much for sharing your GOOD NEWS with us. I know how much it is a relief for you to have your precious Lancelot home with you again. I hope he will continue to do well in his recovery from his adverse reaction to the medication. Please know you and your precious Lancelot are in my thoughts and prayers, and that I look forward to knowing how you and your precious Lancelot are doing.

Peace and blessings,moon_beam

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In heaven's perfect garden there is no grief or pain, and all of God's creation join the angels' sweet refrain.

The most blessed way I have of knowing God's comforting love and grace is to look into the eyes and heart of God's creatures' sweet angelic face.

Kel, thanks so much for letting us know how Lancelot is doing. I am so relieved to hear that you have him back home with you and that he is doing better. That was quite a scare. I hope that he will fully recover from this.

Unfortunately, now I'm back with bad news. While Lance was in the hospital, they did a lymph node aspirate. They got the results back today. Lymphoma.

I'm devastated. The internal medicine specialist is kind of baffled by it, since he's only a year old and has been eating, playing, drinking - none of the real signs of lymphoma that they usually see in cats, and his age is all wrong. She says the oncologist isn't sure he buys it either, and wouldn't do chemo without a biopsy confirmation. So tomorrow, we biopsy. We're also doing chest x-rays and abdominal ultrasound to check for spread, so we get the full picture.

I... can't even cope. I can't believe that a year after Pippin got sick, Lance is sick. He's only a year and a half old. He's come so far from the angry, terrified cat that came to us. Why? WHY? What did he ever do to deserve this???????

I can't stop crying. I'm so scared, and I don't want to lose him. I can't believe we have a cat with cancer. Even with chemo, that only gives him a year.

A year isn't enough. I can't stand the thought that in a year, Lance won't be here. I just don't know what to do.

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When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight. - Kahlil Gibran

Kel, I was deeply saddened to read your latest post. It seems so horribly unfair for Lance to have lymphoma. I know it probably hit you like a ton of bricks and it is too much to deal with not even a year after Pippin's death. You are asking why and I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one. We don't always know why these things happen, and even if we knew why it probably wouldn't make us feel any better. I've gone through some pretty rough times in the past few years and I've always been one to ask why, but now I'm finding myself asking 'Who' instead of 'Why'. I know that no matter what happens God is still in control and He will bring me through it. When we go through heartbreak and when the bottom drops out it matters more that we have someone we can turn to for comfort. In this life we will have troubles. That is guaranteed. At one time or another we will all face pain, suffering, and heartbreak. Some of us more so than others. I never thought I would lose Tina so quickly after Danny. It seemed to me so terribly unfair. I didn't deserve to lose them both in a matter of 4 months. You don't deserve to lose Lancelot. Kel, I'm not sure that anything I say can take away the pain that you must be feeling. Just please know that I'm here for you and that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Thank you, Danny's Mom. It's really hard. We just got back from dropping Lance off from his biopsy. They still think it's possible we got a false positive, but I don't know. I've been doing some research, and it looks like things don't necessarily have to be as grim as I'm making them. If it's lymphoma, yes, we will inevitably lose him. But I'm reading case studies of cats who've gone into remission for a couple years, and I'd be happy with that. So, we're just going to take it as it comes. If it's lymphoma, we'll meet with the oncologist and discuss our options, and we'll see what we can do to keep Lance around and healthy for as long as we can.

I hate it, of course.

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When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight. - Kahlil Gibran

I just heard back from the vet. The abdominal ultrasound showed his liver and spleen look abnormal. It's almost certainly lymphoma. They're going to do an aspirate to get more information so we can start treatment.

Devastated. Completely.

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When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight. - Kahlil Gibran

Hi, Kel, thank you so very much for sharing with us how you and your precious Lancelot are doing. Words cannot begin to express to you the very deep sadness that is in my heart with the news that your precious Lancelot may be very seriously ill with Lymphoma. I DO understand your shock and anger. My beloved number one kitty son Eli was 6 years old when he was diagnosed with end stage Lymphoma. I hope and pray with all my heart that you will be able to provide your precious Lancelot with treatment that will help him to have a longer happy and healthy earthly journey with you. Please let us know what happens with your precious Lancelot.

Like DannysMom, I have no answer to your desperate need to know "why" this is happening to your precious Lancelot. But like DannysMom's wisdom, I'm not sure that knowing "why" would really make a difference in the devastating heartbreak and heartache we feel when we are faced with the prospects of losing our precious companion's sweet physical presence with us. I wish I had answers for you, Kel, but the only thing I can truly offer you is my sincerest friendship which includes staying close to you - - reaching out to you through the portal of cyberspace - - to try to offer you comfort, encouragement, support, and hope in your time of need.

Please know you and your precious Lancelot are in my thoughts and prayers, Kel, and please do let us know how your precious Lancelot is doing and what the final diagnosis, treatment plan, and prognosis are.

Peace and blessings,moon_beam

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In heaven's perfect garden there is no grief or pain, and all of God's creation join the angels' sweet refrain.

The most blessed way I have of knowing God's comforting love and grace is to look into the eyes and heart of God's creatures' sweet angelic face.

Please allow me to add my deepest condolences to you and Lancelot. I do hope they can come up with a treatment that will allow you and your precious boy to spend as much time together as possible. I know all too well how you must be feeling. All our thoughts and prayers are with you both.

T

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Nature's first green is goldHer hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf's a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to day.Nothing gold can stay.

Hi, Kel, stopping by to let you know you and your precious Lancelot are in my thoughts and prayers, and that I am here for you, with you, and beside you through every step of your and your precious Lancelot's journey - - whatever it may be.

Peace and blessings,moon_beam

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In heaven's perfect garden there is no grief or pain, and all of God's creation join the angels' sweet refrain.

The most blessed way I have of knowing God's comforting love and grace is to look into the eyes and heart of God's creatures' sweet angelic face.

Kel, thanks for sharing the test results with us. It is encouraging that his liver and spleen look normal, and hopefully the aspirate will give you a clearer picture of what is going on. Kel, I know you're going to to do everything you can to help your little kitty boy and to give him the best possible care. He is a young cat, so he does have that going for him. I hope and pray that treatment will get him into remission. I know this is is such a shock for you. Please know that I'm here for you, we all are. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Right now all you can do is just take it one step at a time.

I tried to post an update last week, but the board ate my post. This week is better. We're moving forward with chemo - this week was week 2. Last week was awful. Lancelot had a bad reaction to anesthesia, then a bad reaction to an appetite stimulant. He started to perk up over the weekend, and he's now back to acting like himself. He's been happy, playful and eating well this week. Monday, the oncologist thought he was doing quite well. He lost a little weight, but I understand that's normal with chemo at first. I might be wrong, but I think he's putting weight back on this week. I guess we'll see for sure next Monday.

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers. I haven't been posting much - it's too hard, and I'm too anxious to say much. But thank you, thank you, thank you.

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When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight. - Kahlil Gibran

Hi, Kel, thank you so much for sharing with us how you and your precious Lancelot are doing. Yeah - - I know about the quirks of "high technology". I'm glad "technology" finally cooperated when you were once again able to try to share with us how your precious boy is doing.

When my number one kitty son Eli was undergoing chemo for end stage Lymphoma I was surprised at how well he did once he recovered from the trauma of his surgery and the initial chemo dose. He did lose his whiskers but not his fur - - so I saved the whiskers I found and started a "whisker box" for him, and I still have his whiskers these 6 years since he joined the angels.

Your primary priority is to spend as much time as possible with your precious Lancelot. Please know we understand that your heart also wishes to share with us how you and your precious boy are doing - - we are here for you, Kel - - always beside you and keeping you and your precious Lancelot close in thought and prayer.

I hope you and your precious Lancelot had a very peaceful and enjoyable Thanksgiving yesterday - - a day I know you both will treasure forever. Please know you and your precious boy are in my thoughts and prayers, and that I look forward to knowing how you both are doing whenever possible.

Peace and blessings,moon_beam

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In heaven's perfect garden there is no grief or pain, and all of God's creation join the angels' sweet refrain.

The most blessed way I have of knowing God's comforting love and grace is to look into the eyes and heart of God's creatures' sweet angelic face.

Kel, thanks for giving us an update on Lancelot. You are in our thoughts and prayers. It's encouraging that he is putting weight back on, and he is getting the best care. We all want Lancelot to get well and to have a relatively good life despite his health problems. Your sweet Lancelot is in good hands and he knows he has a great home and a great mom